Torpedo Boat Winslow

By Patrick McSherry
Click Here to read an account of
the WINSLOW in action

GENERAL:

The USS WINSLOW was typical of the FOOTE class of torpedo boats. The
Winslow saw action in Cardenas harbor, Cuba, where she was in a duel with
a Spanish gunboat and the harbor defense fortifications.

BACKGROUND:

The USS WINSLOW was a very new ship at the outbreak of the Spanish American
War, being commissioned only five months before. She was a sister ship
of the USS FOOTE (TB 3) and USS CUSHING (TB 4).

After commissioning, USS WINSLOW reported to Newport, Rhode Island
for torpedo loading and drilling She remained there until January 30, 1898
when she departed for Norfolk, Virginia. She was in Norfolk when word arrived
about the loss of the USS MAINE. With the heightening
of tensions in March, she was dispatched to Key West, Florida to be closer
at hand should hostilities break out.

After War was declared, the USS WINSLOW patrolled off of the Cuban
coast in the vicinity of Havana, Cardenas and Matanzas. She left her patrol
area on May 11 to meet the USS WILMINGTON (Gunboat #8) for recoaling. While
there, she aided the USS WILMINGTON, and the USS HUDSON in an effort to
locate Spanish vessels in Cardenas Harbor. The action against the town
and the Spanish armored tug ANTONIO LOPEZ
resulted in the near loss of the USS WINSLOW, and the death of six of her
crew, including Ensign Worth Bagley, the only
U.S. naval officer killed during the war. Three of her men, Chief Gunner's
Mate George P. Brady, Chief Gunner's Mate Hans Johnsen, and Chief Machinist
T. C. Cooney were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Click
Here for the offical account of this action.

After being towed clear of the battle, the USS WINSLOW was sent to
Key West, Florida and Mobile, Alabama for repairs. The repairs were not
completed before the end of hostilities. She sailed up the east coast,
arriving in New York, where she was placed out of commission on September
7 to begin more extensive repairs. She stayed in New York until transferred
to Norfolk where she was recommissioned in reserve.

The USS WINSLOW was fully recommissioned June 30, 1901, to served
as a torpedo training vessel at Newport, Rhode Island. She was probably
decommissioned in 1904 in New York. In 1906 she was recommissioned and
sent to Norfolk where she was placed in the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla. In
1909, the USS WINSLOW was transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, but
still held in reserve.

From June to November 1909, the ship served as a training vessel
for the Massachusetts Naval Militia. The ship was returned to the Navy
and decommissioned on July 12, 1910. In January 1911, she was sold to H.
Hanson of New York City.

ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:

Torpedo boats were a new type of vessel world-wide. They were greatly
feared, but were highly ineffective. The theory was that the torpedo boats
could advance quickly, because of their high speed, and stealthily, possibly
at night, and release their torpedos at a range of four hundred yards or
less. The torpedo would travel just below the waterline, and pierce the
enemy vessel's hull just below the main armor belt. By the time the United
States commissioned its first torpedo boat, the five major navies in the
world already had nine hundred torpedo boats among them.

Several major factors contributed to the actual ineffectiveness of
torpedo boats such as the USS WINSLOW. First, the vessels had to approach
close to the targetted enemy vessel to fire their torpedoes. The requirement
of close approach combined with lack of armor made the vessel subject to
rapid damage.

Torpedo boats had to direct their torpedos by aiming their vessel
at the proposed target, something not always possible. Counter-measures
such as rapid fire guns, searchlights, and the advent of the destroyer
greatly limited their effectness and ability to close on the enemy.

Though torpedo boats did not inflict any major damage during the
war, the sheer threat of their existence was a weapon. It required the
development of counter-measures, caused an alteration of tactics, and was
useful as a weapon of terror.

Torpedo boats served well as dispatch boats, and were relatively
inexpensive to construct.

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